SUNDAY AND THE SABBATH
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] SIR,—Your correspondent, Mr. Arnold Hyde, asks for sonic principle to apply to Sunday and its observance. May I suggest that Sunday belongs to the Nation, as the day on which we suspend the work by which we gain our living, to be used as each individual wishes (" according to our several necessities" to use a Prayer Book phrase) : that is for rest, amusement, worship, or anything else according to individual taste ? The Sabbatarians, of course, do not admit this principle, they consider that Sunday belongs to them, not to the Nation in general, and that they have the right to make you, Me, and everybody else do as they wish. Hence the embargo on Sunday amusements. Nobody has ever persecuted or sought to persecute the Sabbatarians, why should they seek to persecute their fellow men ? We hear a great deal about the " English " Sunday and the " Continental" Sunday ; may I point out that Sunday is Sunday everywhere ? The only difference between Sunday here and on the Continent is, that on the Continent (even, strange as it may appear, in extreme Puritan countries like Holland, Norway and certain Swiss Cantons) one can do as one wishes, while in England one is persecuted by ancient and modern soul-destroying laws.
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